Every year, The Associated Press chooses a selection of photos that best documents the year’s top news stories as chronicled by photojournalists around the world. Today, this collection was distributed by the AP to its members and subscribers worldwide.

Every year, The Associated Press chooses a selection of photos that best documents the year’s top news stories as chronicled by photojournalists around the world. Today, this collection was distributed by the AP to its members and subscribers worldwide.

The migrants arrive by the hundreds on the beaches of the Greek island of Lesbos. And in their eagerness to move on, they leave behind belongings they carried on their backs.

The people fleeing war and poverty, mostly from Syria but also from Afghanistan, Iraq or Pakistan, turn up from the Turkish coasts after crossing rough seas on precarious rubber dinghies. This northeastern Greek island has become one the main entry points to Europe for refugees this year. More than 1,000 people arrive every day to the beaches on the north of the island, by now a dramatic routine.

The beach arrivals always chaotic, especially in bad weather. Children and adults jump off the dinghies as they approach the shore, desperate to reach land as soon as possible. On their backs, they carry the few personal belongings they managed to take on the journey. Some of them end up on the beach.